ENB150

Monday, May 2, 2011

Last week, we visited Riverside Cemetery off of Riverside Road in Macon. We searched the cemetery for gravestones marking those who had died during the year 1918, a year during which the Spanish flu was sweeping across Macon, killing many many people. As a class, we found over 120 gravestones from this date. Here is a link to the data which we yielded:

Basically, the graphs show that the older one was, the smaller amount of time they had to survive after contracting the Spanish flu. Of course, we could not be sure that all of these people died from this epidemic.

Here is a picture of me and my friend Caitlin hugging a tree during our field trip to the Hitchti Experimental Forest. Okay that's all a lie. First of all, my friend's name is Lizzie and second of all we're not in the Hitchti Experimental Forest but next to a tree by a lake in Macon. Although our trip to the forest was a lot of fun and the forest itself was absolutely beautiful, I wasn't feeling very well (maybs a bit dehydrated) that day and was not able to get my picture taken. :[ BUT I figured, since I'm a veteran tree-hugger, any of my many many pictures!

As I said, Hitchiti was beautiful. Here is a link with a lot of information and details concerning the park: http://travelingluck.com/North+America/United+States/Georgia/_4200724_Hitchiti+Experimental+Forest.html#local_map

On Bear Day, I was able to attend a seminar that focused on two different subjects that are very important to education. The first presentation was about bullying. The presenter’s study sought to find if there are specific groups or types of people that are particularly susceptible to bullying. She looked at many different areas including gender, extra-curricular involvement, race, physical characteristics and GPA. She then interviewed ten different Mercer students to see if they had been bullied or what they thought characterized those most vulnerable to being bullied. She found that those who are overweight and those who do well in school are most often bullied, while gender does not seem to be a causal factor, as both males and females seem to be bullied equally. The other presenter focused on the organization Autism Speaks and how interest groups such as this one affect democracy. She concluded that interest groups are extremely important, as they ensure that we keep our rights to led our voices and opinions be heard. They also serve as support groups for those within the groups who might need extra support.

We took a field trip to the Ocmulgee National Monument here in Macon, GA. The site was beautiful and it was so cool to see the history that the area has to offer. I even got to do flips on top of the mounds. Not many people can say that you know. The monument preserves records of human life in our area dating back to over 17,000 years ago. The mounds were constructed during the early Mississippian period by a culture named the Moundbuilders. They were first seen in the Macon around in about 1000 BC. The mounds which we visited were built between 900 and 950 AD. It was the largest village in the Southeast. The Lamar culture also began here around 1300 AD. The mounds were owned by the Creeks until the 19th century when they were given over to the state. After a great damage was done to the mounds as Macon was developing, Dr. R.A. Kelly studied the mounds and found great historical and archeological value. Because of this, the Ocmulgee National Park was founded in 1936. It is now open for visitors to come and go as they please.

Here are some pictures of the Park and the Mounds

And here is a picture of our class in front of the sign. K not really but that would have been a good idea.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Burgess Shale is home to one of the greatest fossil fields man has ever known. It is located in the Canadian Rockies in British Colombia. It was discovered in 1909 by Charles Walcott. It is the greatest record we have of Cambrian animal fossils. It is believed that these animals thrived after the Cambrian explosion over 500 million years ago. Since it's discovery over 60,000 fossils of both hard and soft bodied animals have been found here. Here are some of those odd animals:

Anomalocaris:

Wiwaxia:

Hallucigenia:

Opabinia:

Waptia:

Marella:

Also, check out this sweet vid of all the animals!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1DPzY6o6hQ&feature=related

Monday, March 28, 2011

Since Dr. Rood kept mentioning "rogue waves" and I had no idea what rogue waves were, I figured I would riddle myself that! Here's what I found:

A rogue wave is a single unpredictable, massive wave. The massiveness is simply measured by comparing it to other waves of the time and area and it being significantly bigger. They are sometimes called "walls of water." They are different from tsunami waves because tsunami waves are somewhat predictable while rogue waves are not. Scientists are completely sure as to why rogue waves occur, but they have many good theories. One is that they are formed when waves hit ocean currents head on, causing a massive "pile up." Another is wave reinforcement, meaning 2 waves combine forming a larger wave. Though rogue waves have been documented in sailor's journals throughout history, they are still somewhat a mysterious, ominous occurrence.

Here is a picture of a rogue wave demolishing a ship off the coast of Panama:

And here is a video of a 60 foot rogue wave hitting a boat in the Bering Sea